CCP official alleged to be leading a Westminster spy ring is the de facto gatekeeper to the Chinese president

In a world of identikit bureaucrats, Cai Qi, the man described as Xi Jinping’s top lieutenant and recently revealed as the suspected ringleader of an alleged Westminster Chinese spy ring, stands out.

As the fifth-ranking member on the standing committee of the Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) ruling politburo, Cai is one of the most powerful people in China. But his importance outstrips even his senior title, because as the Chinese leader’s de facto chief of staff, he is also effectively the gatekeeper and right-hand man to Xi himself.

Chinese president is behind patriarchal turn in politics with activists silenced for ‘promoting gender antagonism’

Addressing dignitaries gathered in Beijing on Monday, Xi Jinping praised the “historic achievements” of women’s rights in China. In the past 30 years, the Chinese president said, maternal mortality rates had dropped by nearly 80%, and women were now participating in the project of national governance with “unprecedented confidence and vigour”.

Xi was speaking at the global women’s summit, an event on Monday and Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the historic UN’s world conference on women, which took place in Beijing. It was there in 1995 that Hillary Clinton, the then US first lady, delivered her “women’s rights are human rights” speech, lines now often quoted by people in China advocating for women’s rights.